William Wordsworth in Cumbria – Visit Cumbria 1770 – 1779 William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in a fine Georgian house in Cockermouth , now called Wordsworth House . His father John was estate agent to Sir James Lowther, who owned the house. William has an elder brother Richard, a younger sister Dorothy and two younger brothers John and Christopher. His childhood was spent largely in Cockermouth and Penrith , his mother’s home town. William and Dorothy and his future wife Mary Hutchinson attended infant school in Penrith between 1776 and 1777. William’s mother died in Penrith when he was 8. His father died when he was 13, and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Cockermouth. All Saints church rooms is on the site of the Cockermouth school that William attended as a boy. Hawkshead – Ann Tyson’s Cottage 1779 – 1787 From 1779 until 1787 William attended the Grammar School in Hawkshead , lodging with Ann Tyson initially, then with his brothers.

At Hawkshead William thrived – receiving encouragement from the headmaster to read and write poetry. During these years he made many visits to the countryside, gaining inspiration as the powers of nature exercised their influence. He then went to St John’s College Cambridge, where he was not a notable student, but inevitably matured in thought and sophistication. In 1795 he received a bequest of £900 which gave him the means to pursue a literary career. In 1795 the Wordsworths stayed in a cottage in Dorset, where they met Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. In the years ahead a close relationship developed between William, Dorothy and Coleridge. William and Coleridge then undertook a tour of the Lake District, starting at Temple Sowerby, and finishing at Wasdale Head, via Grasmere. At Grasmere they saw Dove Cottage, then an empty Inn called the Dove and Olive Branch. 1799 – 1808 In December 1799 William and Dorothy moved into Dove Cottage , in Grasmere . Dorothy was William’s secretary, as William dictated his poetry.

In 1802 William married his childhood companion Mary Hutchinson, and the first three of their five children were born. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey moved in to Greta Hall in Keswick . Southey, who was poet laureate from 1813 – 1843, lived there for forty years. 1813 – 1850 In 1813 they moved to Rydal Mount , where William and Mary stayed until their deaths in 1850 and 1859. While living here, William bought the Rash field, next to St Mary’s Church, originally to build a house. The house never materialised. It is now called Dora’s Field , and has a splendid display of daffodils. Whilst at Rydal Mount William became Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, and had an office in Church St, Ambleside . In 1820 he published his ‘Guide through the District of the Lakes’. In 1842 he became the Poet Laureate, and resigned his office as Stamp Distributor.

He helped to choose the site of St Mary’s Church , built just below Rydal Mount, and where he was church warden from 1833 to 1834. The grave of William Wordsworth at Grasmere Church. In 1850 William caught a cold on a country walk, and he died on 23 April, St George’s day, 80 years after his birth. He and Mary who died 9 years later have a simple tombstone in the churchyard of St Oswald’s Church in Grasmere, now one of the most visited literary shrines in the world. William Wordsworth William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (1770- 1850) Inspired by the epic grandeur of the Lake District landscape, where he was born and lived most of his life, William Wordsworth (1770-1850), the Victorian Poet Laureate, is the foremost of English Romantic poets. The great Lakeland poet was born at Wordsworth House in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth on the western edge of the National Park on 7 April, 1770, the second son of John Wordsworth and Anne Cookson.

John Wordsworth came from middle class Yorkshire stock. William's childhood was spent at Cockermouth and Penrith , the family lived at Wordsworth House , in Cockermouth, an elegant Georgian mansion which became their home in 1766 when William's father was appointed to the position of steward to James Lowther. The young Wordsworth attended school at Cockermouth between 1776 and 1777. He lost his mother when he was but eight years old, and tragically, his father followed her to the grave but five years later. William was separated from his much loved sister Dorothy and went to live with his two uncles. Dorothy was brought up by their maternal grandmother. A highly imaginative child, he was educated at Hawkshead Grammar School . During his period of residence in Hawkshead he lodged at Anne Tyson's cottage, which today proudly declares the fact on a plaque for the information of visitors to the village. In these early, formative years, the young Wordsworth developed a great love and appreciation of the Lakeland landscape, which he was to vividly retain for the rest of his life. In 1790, Wordsworth embarked on a summer walking tour through revolutionary France.

During this time he met Annette Vallon, who was to become his mistress and later bore him an illegitimate daughter, Anne Caroline. Largely influenced by the events of the French Revolution, he made an attempt to break away from the artificial diction and the neo-classical traditions of his age. William first acquired critical attention at the age of twenty-eight with the publication of his 'Lyrical Ballads' with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798. It included his 'Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey' , written in a simplistic style which was widely criticized at the time. Undaunted, William continued to write his celebrations of nature, producing such masterpieces as his long autobiographal poem 'The Prelude', which was published in 1839. William married his childhood schoolfriend, Mary Hutchinson, in 1802, the couple moved to the village of Grasmere , where they eventually settled at Dove Cottage in the village, his sister Dorothy, to whom he remained very close, moved in with them.

Dove Cottage was William Wordsworth's first home in the lakes, the poet, his wife Mary and sister Dorothy lived there from 1799 to 1808 and it is where he is believed to have written his best poetry. A tireless walker, he traversed the Lakeland fells ceaselessly on foot and wrote a pioneering guide book to the Lake District. Local tradition states that when Sir Walter Scott stayed with the tee-total Wordsworth, who would not allow alcohol in the house, he would lock the door of his room, climb out of the window and make straight for the Swan Hotel, to which ends he was driven, to obtain his daily dram of Scotch whisky. The household it is reported, on entering the inn with him, were puzzled as to why all the staff appeared to greet him as an old friend. The well tended, steeply sloping gardens were laid out by Wordsworth himself, he would often on rambles in the area, obtain wild flowers and ferns to replant there. The adjoining Wordsworth Museum, holds many of the poets original manuscripts and family portraits.

After vacating Dove Cottage, the Wordsworth's lived at nearby Allan Bank , once referred to by the poet as a 'temple of abomination', as at the time he strongly felt it ruined the view of Grasmere, but later changed his views on the building and occupied it for a period of three years. They later lived at the Rectory at Grasmere, neither of these houses are open to the public. The great poets best works were written between 1797-1808, in 1813, the family moved into Rydal Mount (pictured right) , which at first was rented from Lady Fleming of nearby Rydal Hall, but later purchased, they continued to live in the house for the rest of their lives. An avid gardener, William landscaped the gardens himself. The Wordsworths were honoured with a royal visit in 1840, when Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV, called on them at Rydal Mount. The house returned to the Wordsworth family in 1969, when Mary Henderson, nee Wordsworth, great-great grandaughter of William, bought Rydal Mount, opening it to the public the following year.

The poet himself, a keen gardener, designed the informal garden, planting the trees carefully, so as not to spoil the views. The grounds cover four and a half acres, the highly attractive gardens containing a variety of rare shrubs, rhododendrons, daffodils and bluebells. The tour of the house commences in the oldest part of the building, which dates back to the sixteenth century. The house contains a great deal of furniture which was owned by the Wordsworths and some excellent family portraits as well as personal items such as ice skates and picnic boxes. The views of Rydal Water and the Lakeland fells from the gardens are superb. In 1843, on the death of Robert Southey, William was appointed Poet Laureate. Fate dealt a terrible blow when the Wordsworth's much loved daughter, Dora, died of tuberculosis in 1847, both William and Mary were crushed by their loss. In nearby Dora's Field , bought by them some years previously and where they had intended to build a house, they planted a mass of daffodils to her memory, Dora's Field, at Rydal Village, is now owned by the National Trust.

It was during a visit to Gowbarrow, at Ullswater on Thursday, 15th April, 1802, that William was inspired to write what is perhaps one of his most famous and evocative poems, 'the Daffodils'. Surprisingly, William was not alone, but had been accompanied by Dorothy on the excursion to the lake. Dorothy apparently wrote a description on the spot in her journal for that date reporting 'They tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake.' William is reported to have relied upon her description when composing the famous poem. The Daffodils I wander'd lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. William Wordsworth died after a heavy cold turned to pleurisy on St. George's Day, 23 April, 1850, at the time of his death he was considered one of England's greatest poets. He was buried at St. Oswald's Church, Grasmere , where the graves of he and his family, beneath a towering yew tree which was planted by him, can still be seen by the public.

See also:- William Wordsworth Biography Home | Hotels | Bed and Breakfast | Self Catering Cottages | Caravans and Camping | Hostels | Advertise with Us | About Us | Contact Us A Biography of William Wordsworth It can be safely said that almost every visitor to the Lake District is beguiled by the landscape, but William Wordsworth was besotted, as any reader of his works will soon be aware. A contemporary so rightly observed, He found words to express his sensations. There is no record of the poet's reaction to an earlier description by Daniel Defoe that the area was the most barren and frightful he had ever seen. Nor, of course is he able to empathise with Alfred Wainwright, who, when standing on Orrest Head above Windermere, described the scene in one of his many books in terms of, Here, the promised land is seen in all its glory! And what of Millom poet, Norman Nicholson's description of the Wastwater screes, ..like the inverted arches of a Gothic Cathedral. And so to William Wordsworth - 1770-1850.

Born on 7th April, 1770, the second of five children, in the west Cumbrian town of Cockermouth. His father John’s employment as lawyer to the land-owner, Sir John Lowther, enabled the family to have a fair standard of living in an area not known for its prosperity. Wordsworth senior was often absent on Lowther business, and William, in the early years, came to be regarded as a solitary child, estranged from others with the exception of his younger sister, Dorothy, with whom he shared a close bond. It may be that behaviour problems were a major factor in his parents decision to send him, at the age of 6 years, to live with his maternal grandparents in the north Cumbrian town of Penrith, where he attended the local school.We are told that the grandparents were cold authority figures which did nothing to aid William's emotional development and the problems were compounded by the death of his mother in 1778. This event fractured the family unit completely, and his father, unable to raise the children alone, sent William's siblings to live with others.

In 1779 Wiliam moved once more, this time to take a Grammar School place in the rural village of Hawkshead near Windermere. He was boarded in the home of Anne Tyson and her husband, a couple in their 60’s. Anne's financial accounts books and a desk in which the young William carved his initials, are on display in the school museum. His brothers joined him later, but Dorothy was fostered with her mother's cousin, Elizabeth Threlkeld, in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. She and William were not to see each other again for several years. Further disorder to his life was added, when, in 1783, his father died, and still being owed a considerable amount of money by the Lowther Estate; a dispute not settled until 20 years later. He was granted a place at Cambridge University in October 1787, and reputedly remained academically undistinguished and without any clear goal. This is not really surprising, considering what he had gone through before. An impulsive gesture in July, 1790, saw him leave England on a walking tour of France and Switzerland in the company of his friend, Robert Jones.

He was much impressed and influenced by what he saw and heard, not only by the scenery, but also by the politics of the emerging French Republican Cause. Sections of The Prelude, written much later, recalls his journey over the Simplon Pass. "Brook and road were fellow travelers in this gloomy Pass, And with them did we journey several hours At a slow step. The immeasureable height Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, The stationary blasts of waterfalls, And in the narrow rent, at every turn, Winds thwarting winds bewildered and folorn, The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky, The rocks that muttered close upon our ears." Returning to England three months later, he spent the winter in London attending political meetings, among other pursuits. The meetings were generally in support of the French Republican Movement. Later, he headed for Wales, and joined up again with Robert Jones, but it was not long before he returned to France. “France lured me forth; the realm that I had crossed So lately, journeying toward the snow-clad Alps.

But now relinquishing the scrips and staff, And all enjoyment which the summer sun Sheds round the steps of those who meet the day With motion constant as his own I went Prepared to sojourn in a pleasant town, Washed by the current of the stately Loire” He stayed in Paris for a little while before moving on to Orleans in the south. It was here that he met and fell in love with Annette Vallon, the daughter of a surgeon. Her parents did not approve of the relationship and attempted to ban her from seeing him. However, shortly after Williams return to England, she gave birth to a daughter, Caroline, on December 15 1792. He remained on the south coastal area of England in the hope that he could speedily return to France and Annette, but the approaching war between the two countries rendered this impossible. He resumed his dejected wanderings, some of which took him back to Wales and the area around Tintern Abbey, founded in 1131. Thomas de Quincey was later to observe that this period of aimless wanderings were the formative years of his poetic development.

The year of 1794 saw his return to the north of England where he found his long-standing friend, Raisley Calvert seriously ill. He cared for Calvert until his death and was left a small legacy in gratitude. Wordsworth later wrote, “Calvert! It must not be unheard by them Who may respect my name, that I to thee Owed many years of early liberty. This care was thine when sickness did condemn Thy youth to hopeless wasting, root and stem." It was at this time that he and Dorothy were reunited, he aged 24, she 22. Long hours were spent in discussion of their futures before arriving at the conclusion that only by staying together would they succeed. The tenancy offer of “Racedown”, a remote Dorset cottage, was eagerly accepted now that their income was supplemented by the proceeds from the small legacy left to William by Raisley Calvert. They moved to “Racedown” in December 1795 and remained there happily until 1797.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge became a regular visitor, and it was partly at his instigation that led to the Wordsworths renting “Alfoxden”, a large mansion near the village of Holford Glen in Somerset. This seems to have been a happy productive period for all. Together with Coleridge and other visitors, they roamed the countryside day and night with a notebook in which to record observations as ideas for future writings. One of these visitors was John Thelwall, a political activist with Republican leanings. He had already been arrested on the orders of a nervous Government as an agitator. Thelwall's presence at Alfoxden, coupled with reports of the nocturnal wanderings again aroused suspicions and a government spy was dispatched to monitor their movements. It is possible that this was a factor in the refusal to a request for an extension of tenancy of Alfoxden. The Autumn of 1798 found William, Dorothy and Coleridge disembarking in the port of Hamburg, ostensibly to learn the language and study Natural Sciences. Shortly after their arrival they went their separate ways. The Wordsworths spent a particularly harsh winter in the town of Goslar in the region of the Hartz Mountains.

Evidence of their distress in the cold conditions is found in, “On one of the coldest days of the Century”: “A plague on your languages, German and Norse. Let me have the songs of the kettle and the tongs and the poker, instead of that house That gallops away with such fury and force On this dreary dull plate of black metal." They returned to England in the late Spring of the following year to stay with the Hutchinson Family on a farm near Stockton-on-Tees. The farm was owned by the brother of Mary Hutchinson, whom William had not seen since primary school days in Penrith. Coleridge readily accepted their invitation to stay. He and William walked the surrounding countryside, and one excursion took them further afield to Grasmere. Wordsworth was smitten by the beauty of the village and its surroundings and vowed then and there to make it his home as soon as possible. He was able to rent Dove Cottage, and in the December, he and Dorothy took up residence after walking much of the way from Stockton. One report says that in order to “arrive in style”, they hired a horse-drawn carriage for the final part of the journey from Ambleside.

Thus began a settled period for him and his sister. They explored the area from end to end, noting scenes and events, some of which were later included in his compositions. “To my Sister”: Lake District National Park - William Wordsworth William Wordsworth William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1770 - 1850 His 'Daffodils' poem beginning “I wander’d lonely as a cloud” is the quintessential Lake District poem. Born in Cockermouth, just north of the National Park, he went to school in Hawkshead. After attending Cambridge University and then living in Dorset, Wordsworth moved to Dove Cottage in Grasmere in 1799 and then Rydal Mount in 1813. Wordsworth’s ‘Guide through the District of the Lakes’ published in 1820 sparked off the first beginnings of mass tourism to the area. Quotations On the Lake District: "A sort of national property in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy".

On the mountains: "in the combinations which they make, towering above each other, or lifting themselves in ridges like the waves of a tumultuous sea, and in the beauty and variety of their surfaces and colours, they are surpassed by none". Arguing that extending the railway into the Lake District would bring so many people that they would destroy the beauty they had come to see: “Let then the beauty be undisfigured and the retirement unviolated”. On the building of the Georgian roundhouse on Belle Isle, Windermere: “A pepper-pot” Locations Many places vie for the honour of being the daffodils of the famous poem, but the most likely place is between Patterdale and Gowbarrow by Ullswater. You can see Wordsworth’s carved name in his school desk at Hawkshead Grammar School. Daffodils by William Wordsworth (1804) I wander'd lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed - and gazed - but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. More information Cambridge Authors » Wordsworth and the Lake District: A sense of ‘place’ and ‘home’ Zadie Smith Wordsworth and the Lake District: A sense of ‘place’ and ‘home’ In this essay undergraduate Catherine Watts looks at how Wordsworth depicts his home territory, the Lake District, how it inspires his poetry, and how it enriches his thoughts about mankind. 1.

Wordsworth's Native Land - 'Born among the hills / Bred also there' ('Home at Grasmere', lines 348-49) Born in the town of Cockermouth in 1770, William Wordsworth's first home was in the Lake District, and it was one of many he would have there. Cumbria was where he spent most of his life, where he was schooled, raised his own family, wrote much of his poetry, and where he died in 1850, at his last home, Rydal Mount. Though Wordsworth would spend time away from the area at various points throughout his life, he would never be away from the Lakes for long, and, in the light of the thousands of lines of poetry he devotes to his and others' experiences there, we may rightfully doubt whether the place ever left him in mind even when the author was parted from it in body. Wordsworth's relationship with his 'native land' was not one deriving from it merely as a location, but, since he refers to himself in his poetry as , , and , it seems that the Lake District formed part of his very identity.

His great autobiographical poem, The Prelude, traces the 'Growth' of the author from his early years until the time it was written, and from this it is clear that Wordsworth's intellectual development, his ideas and philosophies, owe a great deal to the region in which he was born and raised, lived and died. 2. Imagination and Intellect Nature was important to Wordsworth from his earliest years, as it fuelled his vivid imagination. Some of the most striking memories he would describe in The Prelude are of experiences he had as a child, when his impressionable mind was awe-struck, and sometimes even afraid of his surroundings. In Book I he tells of a night-time boat trip he once took which left him shaken, thinking 'grave and serious thoughts... for many days' (lines 416-18): I dipp'd my oars into the silent Lake, And, as I rose upon the stroke, my Boat Went heaving through the water, like a Swan; When from behind the craggy Steep, till then The bound of the horizon, a huge Cliff, As if with voluntary power instinct, Uprear'd its head.

(lines 402-8) That Cliff, he writes, seemed to follow him 'like a living thing'. He rowed away 'With trembling hands', and was haunted afterwards both day and night by such forms moving slowly through his mind. Wordsworth was certainly intellectually inspired by his surroundings - 'O Nature! Thou hast fed / My lofty speculations!' (lines 462-3) - and he devotes a whole book of The Prelude to the influence Nature had on helping him develop his philosophies towards mankind (VIII, 'Retrospect - Love of Nature Leading to Love of Mankind'). In his everyday life, his time amongst the vales and mountains gave him time to observe, consider and commit his reflections to verse - which he would often do aloud as he walked. Sometimes his sister, Dorothy, would accompany him and write her own observations down in her journal, which Wordsworth might use later to inspire his poetry. It was in this way that his most famous poem, 'The Daffodils', was conceived. Yet Wordsworth also had a more domestic, emotional connection with Nature.

Orphaned at the age of thirteen, and spending much of his time outdoors, it is unsurprising that Wordsworth later writes of Nature as a guardian, a comfort, and something which offered him company in his solitude: I yet Despair not of our nature; but retain A more than Roman confidence, a faith That fails not, in all sorrow my support, The blessing of my life, the gift is yours, Ye mountains! (lines 457-62) Oh! That I had a music and a voice, Harmonious as your own, that I might tell What ye have done for me. (XI, 20-22) 3. Excursions Elsewhere The Lakes were not Wordsworth's only home, however. His first extended period away came at the age of 17, when he went to study at Cambridge. Later excursions would take him not only to London, but abroad to France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. Well-documented in The Prelude, his experiences at Cambridge, London and France were especially important, for it is clear that his time spent in those places played an essential part in developing the poet's intellect and political beliefs.

But it is also clear that being away reinforced his love of the Lakes. The young Wordsworth's joy is palpable in Book IV of The Prelude, at his return to the familiar sights and places of his home, following his first year at St. John's College: I bounded down the hill, shouting amain A lusty summons to the farther shore For the old Ferryman; and when he came I did not step into the well-known Boat Without a cordial welcome. (IV, 5-9) For Wordsworth, as is surely the case with many a student or traveller, his happiness was keenly felt in the simple pleasure of returning to his old home, which, as ever, seemed all the more comfortable for his having been away. 4. Humanity Time away in the 'flat plains' of Cambridge or London, with its 'Streets without end', had not only acquainted Wordsworth with new landscapes, but with new people - the University academics, and the 'thickening hubbub' of 'the Comers and the Goers' of the capital. And yet, once more, it led Wordsworth back to a new appreciation of the Lakes.

The anonymity of London's people left the author bewildered: Above all, one thought Baffled my understanding, how men lived Even next-door neighbours, as we say, yet still Strangers, and not knowing each other's names. (VII, 118-20) The city lacked the intimacy and community of his native land, where, Wordsworth writes, 'if we meet a face / We almost meet a friend'. Yet London gave Wordsworth a deeper insight into the sufferings of others, of types, and of a scale, different from those seen in the Lakes. He writes in 'Home at Grasmere' of his awareness that he was privileged to live in such an area where even the most needy were not beyond the help of others in the community ('They who want, are not too great a weight / For those who can relieve', lines 366-7). Wordsworth was himself generous with his time and money, and did what he could to help local people who were less fortunate than himself. He offered a home and job as a servant, for example, to the orphaned Sally Green, and raised money with the profits from a poem he composed to help the rest of her brothers and sisters.

It was just one act of kindness which the author and his family liberally bestowed on both friends and strangers throughout his life. It was his daily life in the Lakes from which he derived his empathy with others, Wordsworth writes: The lonely roads Were schools to me in which I daily read With most delight the passions of mankind, There saw into the depths of human souls, Souls that appear to have no depth at all To vulgar eyes. (VIII, 163-8) Those 'vulgar eyes' are not those of monetarily deprived men, but men lacking in feeling or 'spirit', such as those with whom Wordsworth may have mixed with in Cambridge: 'Ye who are fed / By the dead letter, not the spirit of things' (VIII, 431-2). Wordsworth's poetry makes loud appeal to such academic types, asking those who are intellectually curious to consider a new type of education - that offered both by Nature and by their fellow human-beings: One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. ('The Tables Turned, lines 21-4) 5.

The Poet's Purpose Having led 'an undomestic Wanderer's life' travelling 'from place to place', a life in the Lakes was finally settled for Wordsworth in 1799, when a tour there with Coleridge resulted in the author's decision to live in Grasmere. He immediately took a lease at Dove Cottage, the first of four homes he would have in the Lake District. His return to the area inspired the same joy experienced by his youthful counterpart in Book IV of The Prelude. Writing in 'Home at Grasmere', he once again relishes his release into nature, enjoying what it offers all those who see it: Majesty, and beauty and repose, A blended holiness of earth and sky. [...] A termination and a last retreat, A Centre, come from wheresoe'er you will, A Whole, without dependence or defect, Made for itself and happy in itself, Perfect Contentment, Unity entire.

('Home at Grasmere', 143-51) Starkly defending the notion that he may have returned to the Lakes to segregate himself from the rest of the world, Wordsworth describes instead all the company that he would have there in the form of birds and animals, plants, flowers, and the landscape. He dares readers to suggest that the place is one of solitude, when he is surrounded by such diverse forms of life: Say boldly then that solitude is not Where these things are: he truly is alone, He of the multitude whose eyes are doomed To hold a vacant commerce day by day With objects wanting life - repelling love; He by the vast Metropolis immured, Where pity shrinks from unremitting calls, Where numbers overwhelm humanity, And neighbourhood serves rather to divide Than to unite. (lines 592-601) His appreciation of nature in the Lakes is, at the same time, an attack on a life elsewhere, such as that of the city-dwellers whom he had no doubt witnessed at work during his time in London. The sense of community and society in the Cumbrian countryside is directly contrasted to such a miserable existence of isolation from fellow men.

Like that of his younger self free from the academic pressures of Cambridge on his Summer Vacation, Wordsworth's delight in the Lake District is one of freedom from the punishing regime and imprisonment of city institutions. And yet, by expressing this liberation in his verses, Wordsworth demonstrates that his life in Cumbria was not merely to be one of personal privacy or escape. It would instead become his occupation - and he would write on it with purpose, seeking to affect his readers with the scenes and stories of the people he observed, as well as sharing the philosophies that he developed during his time reflecting on his surroundings. It is with this resolve that he ends his poem: Yet in this peaceful Vale we will not spend Unheard-of days, though loving peaceful thoughts. A Voice Shall Speak, and what will be the theme? On Man, on Nature, and on Human Life Musing in Solitude. (lines 751-5) Further Reading Wordsworth, William, The Prelude: The Four Texts (1798, 1799, 1805, 1850) (London, 1995).

Biographical facts can be followed up in Wordsworth's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and in Steven Gill, William Wordsworth: A Life (Oxford, 1990). Further Thinking Lots of authors have been inspired by nature. In the light of this essay, and perhaps making comparison to another writer, what do you think is distinctive about the inspiration Wordsworth found in the natural world? Wordsworth's poems have various specific places, or things, or moments, through which he thinks about nature and human beings in it - for example, the fragment of a wooden bowl in 'The Ruined Cottage'. Find one you think is interesting, and think about how it helps the poet think. In the early twenty-first century, writers often focus on the precarious state of nature - in particular, because modernity, industry, human beings in general, are ruining it. Does that anxiety have a role to play in Wordsworth? 'Home at Grasmere', line 729. The Prelude, Book V, line 587. The Prelude, Book III, lines 34-35.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 12:35 am and is filed under Wordsworth . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. The home of William Wordsworth - Wordsworth House, Cumbria | National Trust The home of William Wordsworth - Wordsworth House, Cumbria See what inspired William Wordsworth National Trust Images / John Millar Email This lovely Georgian townhouse, in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, was the birthplace and childhood home of romantic poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. Presented as their bustling family home and peopled by costumed servants, it offers an unforgettable chance for all ages to experience what it was like to live in the 1770s. Relax in our beautiful summerhouse on Wordsworth’s famous terrace, walk and listen to his poetry and discover the nature that inspired his work. WordsWorthians: Biography of William Wordsworth Biography of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth was the second of five children born on April 7th, 1770.

His father, Sir John Lowther, made fair money which enabled his family to have a higher-standard living style. Wordsworth and his family lived in Cockermouth, a west Cumbrian town. Possibly because of his fathers absence, young Wordsworth became off-put and estranged from other children and people (with the exception of one of his sisters.) His parents then sent him, at six years of age, to live with his grandparents in the northern Cumbrian town of Penrith. There he attended a local school. His grandparents were said to be mean authority figures, and they did not help the emotional development of Wordsworth at all. Soon after this, Wordsworth mother died in 1778. This affected Wordsworth, and his emotional status as well. He became even more off-put and preferred to be alone most of the time. Due to his mothers death, Sir John Lowther could not take care of the rest of the kids any longer, and sent them off to live with several other people. After the year of his mothers death, Wordswoth was sent to a grammar school in the town of Hawkshead, close to Windermere.

Him and his brothers were boarded with a couple in their sixties, and Wordsworth sister was sent to live with foster parents, away from the rest of her family. Then, in 1783, Sir John Lowther died. This affected Wordsworth of course, and his emotional state was made even worse. With his father and mothers death, his sister (the only person he was close to) moved away, switched around from several house holds, it is no surprise that Wordsworth graduated from Cambridge University, in October 1787, with having no academic goals or an idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He was in emotional distress. This could lead to the sudden idea, for Wordsworth to take a walking tour of France and Switzerland, in the year, 1790. Wordsworth was greatly impressed and inspired by the scenery and the politics of the emerging French Republican cause, which he later writes about in sections of The Prelude. After returning back to London, to attend meetings to support the French Republican movement, he then went to France, where he stayed in Paris for a little while. There, he fell in love with a women by the name of, Annette Vallon.

Her parents did not approve of Wordsworth, and tried to ban their daughter from seeing him. But, shortly after Wordsworth returned to England, Annette gave birth to their daughter, Caroline, on December 15th, 1792. Wordsworth lived on the coastal line of London, in hope to return to his newly born daughter and the love of his life. But, this journey was not possible, due to the war between the two countries. Two years later in 1794, Wordsworth was reunited with his sister. The decided to live together in a cottage called "Racedown", where they could pay through the proceeds, from th e small legacy left to William by Raisley Calvert (a sick friend of Wordsworth that he took care of until his friends death.) Samuel Coleridge became a regular visitor and a close friend to William Wordsworth. Here the two close friends wrote the famous, Lyrical Ballads. He later stayed with the Huthinson family, along with his sister and Coleridge. They lived on a farm near Stock-On-Tees. Wordsworth was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country side, and he knew he wanted to live in such a place as soon as possible.

After his short stay as the farm, he rented a cottage again (Dove Cottage) with his sister. Mary Hutchinson became a big part of Wordsworth life, and before they got married, he decided to go to France and visit Annette and Caroline (in the summer of 1802.) Their visit was noted as friendly and they parted on good terms. After this, Mary and William got married. They had three children, and moved around several times. One of the house caused two of the youngest children to die. Their final home was Rydal Mount, where they moved in 1813. Wordsworth writings had gain some recognition, and he begun to make some money off of them. He continued his writings and popular poems came out such as; The Excursion, The White Doe of Rylstone, Peter Bell and Benjamin the Waggoner. His sister became seriously ill in 1829, not just physically but mentally as well. For the rest of her life she was required constant care and attention. His good friend Coleridge died in 1859, but the two had parted, in 1812, along with Mary years later, due to Wordsworth drug abuse and erratic behavior.

In 1843 his beloved daughter Dora died. It was heard that Wordsworth spent that last years of his life wandering the countryside and taking care of his garden (which was named after his daughter, "Dora's Fields".) He died on April 23, 1850. Suffering from the common cold. Williams Wordsworth opened up a whole new era of poetry. His views on nature and the rural countryside made his writings unique and popular. He inspired poets and painters all over the world, and even still to this day. The two websites I used for this biography:

Question: In which Cumbrian town was William Wordsworth born?
Answer: Cockermouth